Collective Practitioners
Margarita Alcantara, M.S.Ac., L.Ac.
Focus:
Margarita's specialty is emotional disorders, pain management (acute and chronic), and internal diseases. She enjoys
meeting various patients from all walks of life. But, she especially enjoys working with creative, artistic women
(including, but not exclusive to, writers, artists, performers, mothers, entrepreneurs, and other women who value creativity
in their lives), who are interested in empowering themselves, becoming more in touch with their inner feminine, making a
difference, embracing change in their lives, and are proactive in making it happen.
Having been a writer/editor of Bamboo Girl Zine, her own self-published magazine exploring identity, race, and gender,
for 10 years, published in various books related to race, gender, and pop culture, a current speaker at college campuses on
issues of identity and empowerment, classically trained in opera, ballet, and Filipino Weapon Fighting, and with a
background as a community organizer, Margarita is aware of the unique needs of creative women. Because of this,
Margarita offers not only her knowledge and experience of Chinese Medicine and reiki, but a compassion towards others
who are working to better their lives, as well as a concrete approach to wellness that encompasses the whole self.
Margarita believes that establishing a great connection and understanding with the patient is tantamount, since physical
healing is closely related to that of the spirit.
Background:
Margarita Alcantara, M.S.Ac., L.Ac. is a licensed acupuncturist in the states of New York and Connecticut, and a reiki
practitioner. Her private practice is based in New York City. She donates her acupuncture and reiki services to Restore NYC, a
non-profit organization that restores freedom, safety and hope to foreign-born survivors of sex trafficking by providing
long-term, holistic aftercare services, as well as The Audre Lorde Project's 3rd Space Support Program's Health and Wellness Collective, a group of
professional healers who provide health care for people who are Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Two-Spirit, Trans, Gender Non
Conforming people of color, HIV+, low income (im)migrant and/or people living with a disability. She has also worked
at St. Ann's Corner of Harm Reduction (SACHR), where she performed auricular (NADA) and full-body acupuncture on
populations recovering from addiction.
She is a diplomate in acupuncture certified by the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental
Medicine (NCCAOM), and is certified in Clean Needle Technique by the Council of Colleges of Acupuncture and
Oriental Medicine (CCAOM). She is a contributing writer to the Acupuncture section of the website, All Things Healing.
Margarita graduated with a Masters of Science in Acupuncture from Pacific College of Oriental Medicine in New York
City. This comprehensive four-year program included Chinese acupuncture, oriental medicine theory, anatomy and
physiology, nutrition, and the study of Western diseases. She has also collectively completed 600 hours of training at
Pacific College Acupuncture Clinic and Grand Meridian community clinic in Chinatown.
Margarita was initially drawn to acupuncture through the healing of her own health issues, particularly that of emotional
rebalancing, as well as her general interest in medicine. With a Western doctor as a father, she quickly became familiar
with the strengths of Western medicine, and wanted to learn how Eastern and Western modalities could work together to
create wellness.
Prior to her graduate studies, she received her Bachelor of Arts at New York University, with an emphasis in
Communications.
Margarita is a member of the Acupuncture Society of New York (ASNY).
Email: [email protected]
Cell: 646.641.6910
Website: www.AlcantaraAcupuncture.com
Blog: alcantaraacupuncture.wordpress.com
Twitter: @acu_margarita
Allisonjoy
allisonjoy is an internationally certified Reiki Master Practitioner, and has been committed to healing through
Usui Shiki Ryoho Reiki since 2004. She comes from a family of medical doctors and nurses, and has found her
calling in a different form of health care. She firmly believes in the benefits that holistic wellness can provide
on physical, emotional, and spiritual levels, and sees both western and holistic modalities as truly
complementary forms. allisonjoy understands the necessity of creating sustainable and accessible ways to offer
and integrate holistic health into people's daily practice, and focuses on serving women of color, social justice
workers, and the LGBT community. In addition, she administers treatments to beloved pets- our cherished
companions, and has worked in partnership with Sit Stay Play! and The Paw Pad dog training centers. A
frequent visitor to Chicago, allisonjoy has worked with Rape Victim Advocates, The LGBT Center on Halsted,
and has administered free Reiki treatments to survivors during Sexual Assualt Awareness Month sponsored by
DePaul University's Women's & Gender Studies Department. Based in the New York/New Jersey area, she has
collaborated with the New York LGBT Center's Lesbian Cancer Initiative, Queens Pride House, Casa Atabex
Ache, APICHA (Asian & Pacific Islander Coalition on HIV/AIDS), and the Audre Lorde Project. allisonjoy has
offered her care all across the United States, and as far away as the Philippines.
Place "fierce" + "kind" in the same sentence & you'll probably find allisonjoy. Her continuous work is a
demonstration of her passionate commitment to social justice, whether it was as National Recruiter for ACORN,
Co-Founder of NYC-based media justice coalition R.E.A.C.Hip-Hop, organizer for former Gabriela Network
NY/NJ, National Organizer & touring member of We Got Issues!, or as an ever-growing positive reinforcement
dog trainer. She has organized, created events, facilitated leadership & empowerment trainings and antioppression workshops with youth, women, & people of color all about North America. allisonjoy has recently
stepped into the world of philanthropy as a Program Associate with the Criminal Justice Fund at Open Society
Foundations, and is currently Road Manager and touring member of Mango Tribe, the country's first & only
APIA women & genderqueer interdisciplinary social justice performance ensemble. This queer pinay-amerikan
believes in the strength in all of us, the importance of collective self-care, community healing & building,
responsible pet ownership, art as activism, grassroots organizing, thinking critically, loving honestly, linking
arms with all oppressed peoples, and manifesting visions of liberation!
Contact info/website:
[email protected]
www.allisonjoyreiki.com
Elizabeth Bishop
Elizabeth Bishop holds a Masters in Acupuncture from Tri-State College of Acupuncture, where she studied
Japanese Acupuncture in the style of Kiiko Matsumoto, as well as Traditional Chinese Medicine and trigger
point therapy. She loves acupuncture because it works so well, and because it supports people in hearing,
knowing, and living their own stories as part of the healing process. She believes that healing is an integral part
of building community and practicing self determination, and seeks to use acupuncture in the service of this
work. She continually brings herself back to center through practicing yoga, cooking, and loving her girlfriend
and cat. She celebrates each season as life transforms in Brooklyn.
Contact info/website:
brooklynopenacupuncture.com
[email protected]
Bran Fenner
Bran Fenner is a Registered Nurse born and raised in Brooklyn who has been part of groups like FIERCE and
The Audre Lorde Project for over a decade. He came to understand the role of healing while seeing the effects
of trauma, interpersonal and institutional, on our community of LGBTSTGNCQ people of color and decided to
shift gears a bit and start a new path as an RN. Bran hopes to eventually bring somatic therapy or dealing with
the ways our bodies manifest trauma to more community spaces. Bran believes we all deserve access to
competent and compassionate health care and truly believes in our ability to define our bodies and the care we
receive.
Hi, My name is Bran Fenner I am a black trans queer man and Registered Nurse. Born and raised in Brooklyn I
have over a decade of experience with non-profits and social justice organizing and movement building. I can
offer the following:
Blood Pressure Screenings
Temperature, breathing and pulse rate (if you are not feeling well)
Creating physical and emotional wellness plans
Health Care Proxy and Advance Directive Reviews
Referrals (LGBT sensitive or potentially specialized care)
If you let me know a head of time-I can talk through a medical procedure you may be about to go
through
In a group setting I have a lot of experience talking about healthy dating and relationships and advocating for
yourself as a patient with regard to being in a doctor's office or the hospital-this is with a particular focus on
transphobia/homophobia and the stigma's associated with different medical diagnosis. The role of nurse's is to
focus on the patient/client/person as a whole instead of just the diagnosis. As nurses our role is to fit care into
your current lifestyle and give you all the information you need to make informed decisions about your own
wellness.
Telesh Pascual Lopez
Telesh is a Queer Kanjobal, Maya from Guatemala and comes from a family that has been practicing healing
work for generations. Her commitment to health justice is reflected in her work with organizations that focus on
the needs of women, LGBTIQQ community, and with individual activists and organizers. She has offered
session at: Sexual Assault Yearly Speak Out; Hunter College School of Social Work; The Revolutionary Path:
Healing, Transformation & the Work of Movement-Building with stone circles/The Stone House; St. John’s
Church, Brooklyn; Community Health Fair; Audre Lorde Project (Leadership Roundtable retreat and Volunteer
Appreciation Day) and GAPIMNY-Gay Asian and Pacific Islander Men of New York. More recently Telesh
was a practitioner at the Healing Justice Space at the U.S Social Forum in Detroit in 2010 and was part of the
Coordinating Committee for the Healing Justice space at the Allied Media Conference in Detroit in 2011 which
brought over 25 practitioners from around the country to volunteer their modalities at the conference for the full
weekend. Her training includes: traditional and intuitive energy healing practices from her family’s native
family lineage, Advanced Reiki Practitioner, Healing Touch, from other healers and Basic Massage for
relaxation.
Telesh’s commitment to the social justice movement is based on eight years of experience with organizations
working on issues that directly impact underserved communities in New York City and Central America. The
following areas are some of her areas of focus: international workers rights, philanthropy and organizing. She
has worked with the following organizations: Jobs with Justice, New World Foundation, Guatemala Solidarity
Center, Funders’ Collaborative on Youth Organizing, National Domestic Workers Alliance and Domestic
Workers United.
Telesh Healing Arts
Telesh Pascual Lopez
[email protected]
Tel: 917-325-4696
Emmet Phipps
Emmet Phipps is a queer and trans identified registered nurse and herbalist-in-training who comes to Third
Space Healing as a white ally provider and organizer. Emmet worked as an RN at Callen-Lorde Community
Health Center alongside people living with HIV and diabetes for close to 3 years, has been a transgender health
advocate and activist for many years and practices as a nurse using harm reduction approach that integrates
Western medicine with other healing modalities. Emmet has done their most recent community work in
collaboration with The Rock Dove Collective and the Allied Media Conference. Emmet is a person living with
type 1 diabetes, a printmaker and is currently in school to become a Nurse Practitioner.
About my practice:
Emmet Phipps, RN, ACRN
As a registered nurse, I specialize in supporting queer and trans people living with HIV/AIDS, basic nutritional
counseling, diabetes education, and mental health as it relates to living with chronic illness. In my nursing
practice I draw upon my experience living with diabetes and my awareness of racism, classism and
individualized blame and shame surrounding these chronic illnesses to create a comfortable, non-judgmental,
collaborative space for those seeking my assistance. At 3rd Space Healing, I will be offering counseling
sessions lasting 30+ minutes that may include, depending on your interest:
Blood pressure check/screening with appropriate referrals
Diabetes screening – will be small finger prick –with appropriate referrals
Care plan for yourself or others living with pre-diabetes, diabetes and/or HIV/AIDS
o Food
o Exercise
o Community and family support
o Finding a provider
o Taking medication
Referrals to health care facilities or other healing practices like Reiki, acupuncture, and herbal medicine.
Preventing diabetes
Questions about living with HIV or diabetes-lab tests, what happens in your body, etc
I will be at the ALP 3d Space Support Wellness Days in November and December, please come to see me then.
Do you have a non-diabetes/HIV related question/s? Please ask! I can answer your question or connect you to
someone who can answer it. I look forward to working with those who are interested.
Eva Yaa Asantewaa
Eva Yaa Asantewaa is a native New Yorker of African-Caribbean lineage. She is a spiritworker, maintaining
a private practice that includes Tarot-based psychic counseling, sacred symbolism, meditation coaching,
dreamwork, and other healing and transformative modalities. Eva is an ordained minister (ULC, Modesto, CA)
and legally registered with the City of New York as a marriage officiant.
While studying at Fordham University (B.A., Communications,1974), Eva was influenced by Jungian
psychology and the "mind games" techniques created by Robert Masters and Jean Houston. She also studied
Community Health Education at Hunter College School of Health Sciences and received the Hunter College
President's Award for HIV/AIDS Creative and Scholarly Work, First Prize, 1992.
Through Radical Magick (which she founded in 1992), Eva has produced and facilitated workshops and special
events sponsored by over fifty health and social service, spiritual, feminist, people of color, and
gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender organizations in the New York metropolitan area. Among these are the New
York Open Center’s Womanspirit Journey program, New York Theosophical Society, College of New
Rochelle, Healing Works, New York State Conference on Women’s Health, Riverside Church Wellness Center,
Women’s Health Education Project, and Women’s Rites Center.
Eva’s poetry appears in The Zenith of Desire: Contemporary Lesbian Poems about Sex (ed., Gerry Gomez
Pearlberg, Crown, 1996), Does Your Mama Know? An Anthology of Black Lesbian Coming Out Stories (ed.,
Lisa C. Moore, RedBone Press, 1997), and other publications. Since 1976, Eva has published dance journalism
appearing in Dance Magazine, Soho News, The Village Voice, Gay City News and The New York Times,
among other print and online publications. She has interviewed performing artists, choreographers, and artistic
directors and evaluated dance organizations for the New York State Council on the Arts, the National
Endowment for the Arts, and other arts funding organizations. As a WBAI radio broadcaster (1987-89), she
worked with the Women’s Radio Collective and the Gay and Lesbian Independent Broadcasters Collective
(OUTLOOKS), and co-hosted the Tuesday Afternoon Arts Magazine with Jennifer Bernet as well as producing
her own specials. From January 2001 to January 2005, Eva published DancingWorld, a monthly email
newsletter devoted to Tarot, psychic and spiritual development, and creativity. She was a contributing writer for
Gay City News from December 2005-February 2007, specializing in dance criticism.
Currently, she is teaching Introduction to the Art of Dance at Queensborough Community College. She has
taught Writing on Dance courses for New York Live Arts (formerly, Dance Theater Workshop). She blogs on
dance at InfiniteBody (http://infinitebody.blogspot.com).
For More information: http://mysite.verizon.net/magickaleva